LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Homa didn’t make the cut in his home U.S. Open.
The Burbank-born, Valencia-raised Homa shot a 6-over 76 on Friday to finish his two rounds at 4-over 144, missing the cut by two shots.
Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth both missed the cut by one shot, sending them home from Los Angeles Country Club along with Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Martin Kaymer, Adam Scott and Stewart Cink.
At No. 7 in the world, Homa was the highest-ranked player who missed the cut. He fell short after a roller coaster of a second round that included three double bogeys, including on the 17th and 18th holes heading into his turn.
“Those two doubles in the middle just really slowed me down,” Homa said.
The second round was a sharp contrast to his steady opening-round 68 — his best round in a U.S. Open — on the course where he still holds the record after shooting 61 a decade ago in the Pac-12 championship. Homa has missed the cut in four of his five U.S. Open appearances.
The result was sharply disappointing for Homa, who has been thinking about this weekend ever since the USGA announced the tournament’s location several years ago. He had family and friends in the galleries all week, with his father even walking along on his practice round Tuesday.
Homa has earned two of his six career PGA Tour victories in Southern California. He had major crowd support on both days at LACC while playing alongside fellow LA-area native Collin Morikawa, who birdied three of his final four holes to make the cut at 1-under 139.
“It’s been a grind the first two days,” Morikawa said. “I kind of put myself behind the 8-ball each round, starting each round and being 2-, 3-over every round. I think if we just clean that up, hopefully we can post a number tomorrow and see where the weekend can take us.”
Mickelson shot 74 on his 53rd birthday in the only major he hasn’t won, enduring a round including five bogeys and a double bogey. The LIV Golf representative also had a loud heckler for the second straight day in his native Southern California.
Spieth missed the cut at a major for only the fourth time in nine years, falling agonizingly short because of bogeys on his final two holes.
Two-time major champion Thomas shot 81 on Friday and missed the cut at 14 over. Only three players in the 156-man field posted higher two-day scores.
Thomas said this is the “lowest” he’s felt.
“I was playing the best I’ve played in a really long time this week, so funny game, man,” Thomas added. “It can leave you speechless, both good and bad, and right now it’s unfortunate. But once I’m able to reflect and figure out what I can learn and get better from, it’ll end up good. But it sucks right now.”
Nothing went well for Thomas from the beginning Friday: He bogeyed six of his first seven holes while starting on the back nine, then made a double bogey on No. 17. He had two more bogeys and two double bogeys from there.
“I’ll figure it out,” he said. “I have another major left. If I go win the British Open, nobody even remembers that I’ve missed the cut by a zillion here, so I’ve just got to find a way to get better and learn from this, and if I can, I don’t have to look at this week as a total failure.”
Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, also missed the cut at 144. Rose actually got himself to the cut line late in his round, moving to 4 under on the day with a birdie on the 14th and a par on 15 — but then he found a bunker on the 16th and put a shot into the rough on 17, leading to back-to-back bogeys that sent him home early.
Four amateurs made the cut at LACC, including 20-year-old Gordon Sargent. The Vanderbilt golfer led all amateurs at even-par 140 after surviving an eventful second round that included four birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey.
Amateurs Ben Carr, Maxwell Moldovan and Aldrich Potgieter each shot 2-over 142 to advance.
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